Odds of a white Christmas slashed

Ben Green

As cold weather grips Britain, bookmakers have cut odds of a White Christmas this year.

Temperatures dropped as low as minus 6c in parts of the UK over the weekend, with some areas above 150m experiencing snow for the first time this winter.

Traditionally, the definition of a white Christmas in the UK is “a single snowflake falling during the 24 hours of Christmas Day' at the Met Office building in London” according to the Met office, but many bookmakers will now offer odds of Christmas day snow at a variety of locations across the country.

Ladbrokes are currently offering odds of 7/4 for Aberdeen, 5/2 for Newcastle, 4/1 for Doncaster and 4/1 for London. Paddypower offer 9/4 for Edinburgh and 3/1 for Leeds and Manchester.

A Ladbrokes spokesman said: "The mercury looks like dropping as fast as the odds in a brutal winter."

The last White Christmas in the UK was in 2010, with snow being recorded on the ground at 83 per cent of UK weather stations, and snow falling at 19 per cent of stations on the day.

Only three out of the last ten Christmases in Britain have been considered white.